Luggage carts have been available for many years. Although there are many different types having a variety of features, the structure of most luggage carts is based on the traditional hand truck design typically used by workers to transport heavy objects onto or from trucks or between different areas within a warehouse.
Both the hand truck and the luggage cart offer a simple leverage advantage to the user so that otherwise bulky or heavy objects may be easily lifted and transported to another location. In their simplest form, both carrying devices include a wheeled axle which functions as a fulcrum, a carrying platform extending a prescribed distance from the axle, and a handle attached to a rear edge of the carrying platform. The handle is attached to the carrying platform usually at a right angle and extending a greater distance than the prescribed distance to ensure a leverage advantage over any weight exerted on the carrying platform. Although similar, the typical hand truck is regarded as a sturdy heavy device of fixed structure to be used in one general location whereas the traditional luggage cart (of the prior art) is designed to be carried by a user (such as a traveler) with his luggage from one location to another.
Since the luggage cart is essentially an extra piece of luggage, it must be convenient to carry when not in use, and easy to assemble and collapse. It must also function effectively as a hand truck while carrying luggage within areas which include obstacles not typically encountered by users of traditional hand trucks. Among these obstacles are escalators, stairs, roads and curbs, bumps, door-jams, pot holes and relatively wide gaps such as those found between a train car and a platform.
The principle object of the invention is to provide an improved luggage cart.
It is another object of the invention to provide a luggage cart which is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, lightweight and compact.
It is another object of the invention to provide a luggage cart which is self standing in either the collapsed position or the assembled position.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a luggage cart which is easily converted from its assembled position to its collapsed position using one hand.